


To Be Human

by Echo_Dot, Maxkiki



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Overwatch (Video Game), reaper76 - Fandom
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Buddy Cops, Crime Scene, Crossover, Depression, Descriptions of Blood, Descriptions of Loss, Descriptions of suicide, Drinking, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Overwatch Characters Replace the Regular Ones, Slow Burn, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Violence, eventually, partners to friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 13:34:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19813351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echo_Dot/pseuds/Echo_Dot, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxkiki/pseuds/Maxkiki
Summary: In a Detroit Become Human X Overwatch Crossover, Jack Morrison's mission is to investigate Deviant androids alongside human partner Gabriel Reyes to determine the source of deviancy and save the city from certain civil war.Assuming Jack doesn't become Deviant First.My submission for the 2019Reaper76BigBang!<3





	1. I Am A Machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t say I don’t do anything for you guys, I researched basketball for this.

The rain pelts relentlessly on his shoulders as he scans the front of the bar, calculating the chances of his objective being inside. He fidgets with the quarter between his fingers, flipping it to his left and back to his right, stepping towards the building.

_Jimmy’s Bar_ \- _Health rating A, average price range, $7-$24 per drink, four-star rating._

As he moves to push the door open, a sign catches his attention.

**_No Androids_ **

He opens the door anyway, not allowing a sign to get in the way of his objective. Taking a deep breath in, he tastes sweat and alcohol in the air, the door rushing shut behind him. Jack takes a cursory glance around, looking at the dozen or so of the small bar’s patrons. His entrance hadn’t gone unnoticed, eyes swiveling his way. Internally Jack is grateful, scanning faces just became a much easier process. He cross-references with the police network, none of them matching the man he had to find to begin his mission. 

Jack almost turns to leave, but one man continues to face the television behind the bar, completely ignoring his entrance. “ _Leave no stone unturned.”_ He thinks.

He crosses the short length of the bar in just a few strides and scans the man’s face. In a few short seconds, a detailed profile appears along with a bright blue sign informing him that he found his match.

_Reyes, Gabriel_ _  
_ _Born 07/24/1997 // Police Lieutenant_

_Criminal Record: None_

He moves to stand beside the lieutenant. Jack can tell he has the man’s attention, but the lieutenant refuses to show it, filing away the character trait stubborn in his information about the lieutenant. 

“Lieutenant Reyes,” Jack begins with a pointed pause, defaulting to his introduction protocols. 

“My name is Jack, I’m the Android sent by CyberLife.

I looked for you at the station but, nobody knew where you were, they said you were probably having a drink nearby. I was lucky to find you at the fifth bar!”

The lieutenant doesn’t look up from his drink, swirling the glass on the table. The man emits a bone-weary sigh, refusing to take his eyes off of the screen.

“What do you want?” The lieutenant asks, eyes unmoving from the basketball game on the screen. A game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks was playing, and the Lakers were behind by 6 points in a 62-68 score match. A quick analysis of the game predicted a favorable outcome for the Knicks, but with the second half just starting, even Jack’s advanced software couldn’t predict every likely outcome.

“You were assigned a case early this evening. A homicide involving a CyberLife 

Android.”

The lieutenant still doesn't move, tapping his near-empty-glass on the counter distractedly.

“In accordance with the procedure the company has allocated a specialized model to assist investigators.” 

Finally, Reyes looks up with a sneer on his lips, some sort of fresh frustration emanating from the expression.

“Yeah?” He mutters, turning back to the bar, “I don’t need any assistance, especially not from a tin-can like you. So just be a good little bot and fuck off.” 

Jack recalculates his approach, needing Reyes’ help to investigate the crime scene. He selects a more reasoning based approach, hoping to appeal to the logical side of the Lieutenant.

“Listen- I think you should stop drinking, and come with me. It will make life easier for both of us.”

Reyes lets out a dry huff of laughter, pulling deeply from his drink. He turns his shoulder to Jack and refocuses on the game, ignoring the case and Jack entirely. 

Jack recalculates his approach once more, thinking a more persistent method may be more persuasive. 

“I’m sorry Lieutenant, but I must insist, my instructions stipulate that I must accompany you.”

Reyes turns around on his stool, smug grin on his face.

“You wanna know where you can stick your instructions?” 

He feels his LED turn yellow as he attempts to process the question, not understanding its intention. 

“No,” Jack says with a quirk of his head, “Where?”

The lieutenant's face quickly returns to one of annoyance as he re-faces the bar, finishing off the last of his drink. Jack eyes the empty drink and devises a new solution. 

“You know what? I'll buy you one for the road. What do you say?” 

The lieutenant raises his empty glass calculatingly, brown eyes squinting as he weighed his options. Jack watched patiently as Reyes ran a hand through his neatly-trimmed goatee, pulling on his face as he dragged it down. 

Not waiting for a response, Jack flagged down the bartender who eyed him with suspicion, gaze flashing to the blue triangle on his left breast. 

“The same again please!” Jack requested, pulling a twenty dollar bill from his pocket. 

Reyes shared a look with the bartender that Jack couldn’t interpret, and finally, the officer spoke, sarcasm dripping from words.

“See Jim? Wonders of technology.” Eyeing his glass again he let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair to stretch his shoulders. “Make it a double.” 

Jim doesn’t respond, reaching for a half-empty bottle of Texas brand whiskey from behind the counter. He pours it into Reyes’ glass without fanfare, grabbing the twenty off the table and moving towards the register. 

Jack moves to sit in the barstool beside the Lieutenant, expecting to have to wait for the glass to be empty to leave, but the lieutenant downs it all at once. Placing the glass back on the counter with more force than necessary, the lieutenant shudders, letting out a shaky sigh of satisfaction and discomfort.

The Lieutenant paints a smile on his face, finally giving Jack his full attention. 

“Did you say homicide?” 

On their way out of the bar, Jack briefs the lieutenant with the basics of the case, following him to his sleek black Cadillac. The only way the lieutenant shows he’s vaguely interested is by nodding along as he plugs the address into his car, turning up the music when he’s sure that Jack is done rambling. 

The songs that play are rough and aggressive, and Jack identifies most of them as songs from the hard rock and metal genre of the ’90s and early 2000s. He identifies one of the bands as “Green Day”, a Punk Rock and Indie Rock group, their song “ _Boulevard of Broken Dreams”_ seems to be one of the Lieutenant’s favorites, the lyrics moving soundlessly across his lips. 

The ride is short, only a twenty-minute journey down to the west-side suburban district. When they arrive, the road is crowded with police vehicles, red, white, and blue flashing lights painting the sidings of surrounding houses. A small crowd of reporters had formed in front of the glowing police line, an android assistant standing behind the line. The continued to pelt relentlessly, droplets smacking into the car’s windshield and onto the pavement. The car came to a smooth halt, and the lieutenant smacked the audio off switch with more force than necessary, the loud environment crawling to an uncomfortably quiet one. 

“Stay here” The lieutenant instructed, the door clicking as he exited. Jack could hear the lieutenant groan as he stood up, stretching his arms behind his back.

_Conflicting orders;_

_Selecting priority_

_Investigate Crime Scene_

Jack rises from his seat and turns to cross the street. From his vantage point, he can see lieutenant Reyes speaking to another officer beneath the overhang of the dilapidated house. Jack takes the opportunity to analyze the lieutenant as he speaks, looking to understand why the department and CyberLife would assign him to Reyes of all officers.

The lieutenant’s shoulders are broad and tightly covered by a well-worn hoodie, the fabric seeming thin in some places. It looks small on his frame, the grey fabric pulling around his semi-soft midsection, clearly bought at a more physically fit time of the lieutenant's life. 

Jack would label his build as one of the average office workers, not overly out of shape, but just enough to be deemed a liability in an on-foot chase. Jack deemed that the lieutenant was not unpleasant to look at, and guesses that the average human would find him attractive. 

Storing the information away for later analysis he refocused on the house in front of him, Jack stepped towards the glowing police line. As he attempts to broach the line, the android, clothes sopping wet from the rain, places a hand in the center of his chest. 

“No androids allowed past this point.” It instructs clearly. Jack moves to say something, in protest but Lieutenant Reyes turns from his conversation with the other officer and growls with frustration.

“It’s with me.” 

The android guarding the police line steps aside with a bow of his head, returning to a sentry-like position once Jack stepped through the paper-thin barrier.

The lieutenant approaches him with frustration, poking an accusatory finger in the center of his chest, skewing his tie to the right. 

“I told you to stay in the fucking car.”

“Your orders conflicted with the ones provided to me by Cyberlife, and my software determined that the ones of Cyberlife were of more importance.” 

Reyes seemed to determine quickly that any other instruction would be of futile effort and turned his back on Jack.

“Don’t touch anything, don’t talk to anyone, and don’t mess with any of the evidence, you got it?”  
“Got it.” Jack answers immediately, pleased to have reached a compromise with the lieutenant. 

Jack straightened his tie as he focused his attention on the house, the once-white paint peeling off the wooden siding in many places. More than one window was broken, pieces of glass strewn across the front and side lawns. Jack did a cursory scan of the outside, looking for fingerprints or footprints, but found none, determining that the weather had either washed any evidence away, or the murderer never touched this side of the house. With no new evidence relative to the case obtainable from the outside, Jack scanned Gabriel’s conversation partner, running his face through the police database.

_SGT. First Class, Lindholm, Torbjorn_ _  
_ _Born 08/04/1992 // Police Sergeant First Class_

_Criminal Record: Juvenile Petty Theft- Sentence, 10 Days Community Service_

Sergeant Lindholm had a long blonde beard that stopped midway to his chest, the well-brushed hair ornately braided. Jack traced the hairstyle to that of a Swedish origin, which matched with the man’s name. A blue cap donned his head, and Jack spotted tufts of the same blonde hair sticking out wildly from beneath it. Lindholm was also only four feet tall.

Jack watched their exchange, studying the lieutenant’s more sociable personality.

“Well,” Lindholm sighed, “We estimate the guy has been dead for about two weeks, the landlord came to collect overdue rent and just found him like that.” 

The pair turned to step into the dilapidated house, and Jack followed obediently.

“Oh, isn’t that cute!” Lindholm exclaimed, facing Jack and studying him with awe.

“You got yourself an Android.”

Reyes rolled his eyes and redirected Lindholm’s attention back towards the house,

“Apparently I did something wrong in a past life because CyberLife special chose me to have a fuckin’robot babysitter.” 

The comment caused the pair to chuckle as they stepped through the door, a noise of visceral discomfort leaving the lieutenant and the captain. Jack breathed in deeply from his nose and understood immediately, it reeked like death. Jack quickly shut off his olfactory senses, knowing he’d collect no data from those.

“Oh god, it fucking stinks in here!” Reyes exclaimed, hand moving to cover his mouth.

“If you think that’s bad,” A woman dressed in all black commented, bags heavy beneath her eyes “You should have been here before we opened the windows.” 

The lieutenant simply shook his head and stifled a gag, making his way over to the body. 

The body, if it could still be called that, was in a rapidly advancing state of decomposition, the man’s already heavy corpse bloated with methane and carbon dioxide. The man’s skin was sheet white, a hint of blue-green coloring his cheeks and exposed stomach. The formerly grey shirt was covered with dried blood. He glanced to the right of the body and saw a butcher’s knife, about 12 inches in length. It’s handle was caked with dried blood and upon a careful scan, held no fingerprints. The killer was either wearing gloves, or was an android. 

Looking back to the victim’s body, it wasn’t hard to determine what the man had died from, as Jack counted not two, but **_twenty eight_ **stab wounds in the man’s chest, abdomen, and neck. Flies hovered above the corpse, landing and floating away aimlessly, and Jack swatted them away as he scanned the man’s face.

_Ortiz, Carlos_ _  
_ _Born 08/26/1977// Unemployed_

_Criminal Record: Disorderly Conduct, Domestic Abuse, Possession of Illegal Firearms..._

A trickle of blood left his mouth, and small pool of mostly congealed liquid rested atop his collarbone. 

Reaching out, Jack touched his finger to the still-drying-pool and brought it to his lips, tongue darting out to sample it. Jack stared at his blood-covered-finger for a moment, turning his head as he heard Lieutenant Reyes’s voice from over his shoulder. 

“Eugh, Jack! The fuck are you doing!?” 

The blood was indeed Carlos’s, not that Jack really needed any confirmation.Satisfied with his investigation of the body, Jack stood up from his crouched position, wiping the residue from his finger onto his pants. 

“I was testing his blood, I can do samples in real time in order to help solve cases.”

The lieutenant was almost intrigued, but as his gaze darted from Jack’s hand to his mouth, an expression of subtle disgust crossed his features.

“Great. Just, don’t- don’t put anymore evidence in your mouth.”

“Got it” Jack responded with no intention to follow the lieutenant’s instructions.

Jack crossed the length of the small living room, eyes tracing the blood trail on the ground. Eyes pointed towards the ground, Jack followed the trail to the kitchen knives, finding unsurprisingly, that one was missing. The size and dust print confirmed that the knife next to the body was the knife missing from the kitchen. 

Beside the counter, thrown carelessly to the side, was a well-worn steel baseball bat. Crouching down, Jack scanned it and found splatters of Thirium across the metal surface and the floor around it. 

_An Android_ _was_ _involved!_

Jack touched the bat where the Thirium traces were the strongest and sampled it, tracing the lifesource to a newer housekeeping model; DF3730. Jack stood up and scanned again for Thirium traces, finding a site of impact against the counter and cabinets. Jack pieced together the evidence and saw a simulation of the most likely occurrence.

_The android was slammed against the counter, Carlos beating him viciously with a bat, when suddenly, the Android reacts, grabbing the bat with both hands and casting it across the room._

_Carlos is shocked, and in that split second of hesitation, DF3730 reaches for a knife and plunges it into Carlos’s chest, explaining the spurt of blood found on the counter. The android pulls it out and stares at Carlos as he places his hand over his wound, stumbling backwards from his assailant._

Jack sees an overturned kitchen chair and a bloody handprint and updates the simulation with new information, tracking the two blood trails. 

_Carlos tries to hobble out of the kitchen, attempting to throw the chair between him and DF3730, but the android steps over the obstacle unbothered, laser focus on his objective. Carlos tries to run to the living room to hide, blood dripping from his chest._

_There, the android stabs him again, sending Carlos to stumble into the wall where they found his body._

_The android is remorseless and crouches over the man’s still dying form. He then grips the handle of the knife with both hands, and plunges it into Carlos’s chest over, and over, and over again before casting the knife aside._

The simulation ends, and Jack turns to find Lieutenant Reyes; he knows the android did it, and he needs the lieutenant’s help to apprehend the suspect. The man himself is staring at the writing on the wall above Carlos’s body, hand running subconsciously through his beard.

The words, “ _I AM ALIVE”_ are written in perfect Cyberlife Sans font from Carlos’s blood. From each letter drips a small trail of the liquid, giving the writing an eerie feeling. 

Jack approaches the lieutenant from behind and stands beside him, hands held behind his back.

“Lieutenant.” Jack greets, breaking the man from his thoughtful stuptor. “I think know what happened here.” 

Reyes turns to him with intrigue in his eyes, hands shifting to his hips.

“Oh really?” He says, voice coy and disbelieving, “What happened?”

“Follow me Lieutenant” Jack responds with confidence, moving to stand in the kitchen. “It all started in the kitchen, Carlos was attacking the android, with that baseball bat, and the android pulled a knife to defend itself.” 

Reyes looked between the bat and the missing knife, nodding along to Jack’s explanation.

“The android stabbed Carlos, and Carlos attempted to retreat to the living room, hoping that throwing a chair in its path would save him. But, the android was undeterred and stabbed him again in the threshold to the two rooms, causing Carlos to collapse where we found his body. You can guess where the other stab wounds came from.”

Reyes followed the path carefully, mustache twitching as he bit his bottom lip-a detail Jack isn’t sure why he noticed. The silence stretched for a minute as Reyes, walked the path from the kitchen and studying the blood trail, eyes unable to see the Thirium traces. 

“How do you know it was an android and not a human wearing gloves?” The lieutenant asked incredulously, some sort of superiority complex in his eyes. Jack, though an android, was not above rising to such a challenge. 

“Thirium.” Jack answered simply, bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

“Thiri-whatm?” 

“Thirium.” Jack reiterates with a cocky smile. “You call it ‘Blue Blood’, it’s the fluid that powers android biocomponents. Stains evaporate to the naked eye in just under two hours, but it leaves behind a residue.”

“But I bet you can still see it huh.”

“Correct.” 

Reyes examines the crime scene one last time before turning his full attention to Jack, crossing his arms. 

“So say your theory is correct, huh. Where’s the bot?” 

Jack began to step out of the kitchen and towards the back of the house, following the Thirium blood trail to the dead end of a hallway. Scanning the walls he found clean white wallpaper in the outline of a ladder, along with splotches of blue blood. 

_Why would the android need a ladder?_

Jack traced the walls once again and looked up, knowing immediately what the ladder was for. On the ceiling, there was a hatch to the attic, one with traces of blue blood on it. _DF3730 was still here!_

Jack searched for a way to reach the attic, calculating the distance as too long a jump to do effectively. In the kitchen, a chair unmarked as evidence sat whole and about three feet off the ground, just tall enough to allow Jack to haul himself up into the attic. 

He picked up the chair and began to walk back towards the halway, only to be stopped by an incredulous Lieutenant Reyes.

“What are you doin’ with that Jack?” 

Jack looked between Reyes, the chair and the hallway, deciding on the simplest answer.

“I'm investigating something lieutenant.” 

Reyes didn’t respond, simply walking behind Jack and watching him set up the chair. Jack pushed open the hatch of the house with ease, hoisting himself up the small distance to the dusty room. 

Flits of moonlight filtered through the back window, dust particles dancing aimlessly in the beam’s wake. Boxes stood tall up to the ceiling and the scurry of rats could be heard behind him. Jack scanned for blueblood, finding a thin trail leading to the back of the attic near the window. 

Jack crouched low to the ground, watching the trail as it doubled around boxes and seran wrap covered furniture. The trail continued to thin and Jack was almost concerned that he’d lose it entirely, but then the unmistakable noise of rustling papers came from in front of him, and Jack knew he was on the right path. 

Jack stayed still for a moment, tracing the location of the sound. In his moment’s pause, a box burst out from its position in front of him, and Jack barely dodged a punch. Jack reached out and gripped the android’s bloody arm, twisting it and holding it behind the Android’s large frame. 

“Please let go.” It begged, voice quiet and scared. Jack obeyed, moving to stand in front of the deviant. 

“Model DF3730, you’re under arrest for the murder of Carlos Ortiz.” Jack recited, preparing to call for Lieutenant Reyes.

“Please don’t do this.” The android begged, it’s LED flashing a brilliant red. “I just wanted to defend myself, he was going to kill me!”

Jack studied it’s face, it's dark features and soft brown eyes were twisted into an expression of horror, hands raised in front of it in a begging stance. Jack said nothing, just studying the deviant. It truly believed it was experiencing fear.

“Please” The bot whispered, a tear escaping its right eye. Jack gave the deviant one last look over, studying it’s blue and red stained shirt. He was a murderer, self defense or not.

“Lieutenant!” Jack yelled, eyes steady and merciless as he stared at the deviant, “I’ve found the suspect!”

“Why’d you do it!?” The android asked, voice in a state of near-hysteria. “They’ll kill me! I didn’t do anything wrong! I was just defending myself! Why would you kill one of your own!?”

“I’m simply following my mission.” Jack answered, waving the officers into the attic. Yet, some part of him couldn’t help but feel wrong. 

  
_SOFTWARE INSTABILITY_


	2. Am I?

Jack watched with intrigue from behind the two way glass as Lieutenant Reyes questioned the android. His view of the lieutenant was partially obscured by a bob of white hair, and he had to step to his right to adjust. 

“Why’d you kill him?” Reyes’s smooth and tired voice rang out, gaining a grainy quality as it came through the room’s embedded microphones. DF3730 said nothing, its hands clenched into fists, the tips of its fingers still covered in blood. The deviant’s gaze didn’t stray from the table, and lieutenant Reyes leaned in closer, uncrossing his arms from his chest. 

“How long were you in that attic?” 

Reyes leaned back in the chair, and Jack watched as the worn fabric of the lieutenant’s hoodie stretched around his arms and chest, inexplicably transfixed.

“Why didn’t you even try to run away?” 

Jack’s gaze lazily made its way towards Reyes’s face, studying the lieutenant thoroughly. He felt his head tilt thoughtfully as he watched the lieutenant’s expression shit to one of anger. Taking note of how the gentle push of his lips morphed into a sneer at the corner of his lips, neatly trimmed goatee shifting with the movement. Jack felt his LED flash yellow as he watched as a fresh burst of frustration passed through the lieutenant, the deviant still completely unresponsive to questioning. Reyes slammed his hands down on the metal table, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

“Answer me dammit!” 

A tense moment of silence passed, the echo of the lieutenant’s outburst still reverberating in his brain. Jack found himself unable to shift his gaze to the other side of the interrogation room as the lieutenant's adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed.

“Fuck it.” Reyes growled, voice perilously low, “I’m out of here.”

Reyes left the room in a huff, and the door rushing shut behind him. As he entered the observation room he sat down heavily in the chair and flood of unintelligible instructions coursed through Jack. 

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

“Well that was productive.” The woman in front of Jack crooned, southern voice sweet as honey, sneer sharper than a blade. Her boots clacked against the lenolium floor as the moved to lean against the wall behind where Reyes stewed, crossing her arms across her chest. 

Jack let himself be forgotten in the room as Reyes let his gaze shift towards Detective Caledonia, a storm of emotion rolling beneath the lieutenant’s skin. 

“Why don’t we try, you know,” She gestured vaguely, mimicking a chokehold in the air, “Roughing it up a little bit?” 

Reyes looked inclined to agree, words just barely forming on his lips before Jack interrupted.

“Android’s don’t feel pain,” He explained, stepping towards the two way glass in front of them. “Attacking it would only damage it, and it still wouldn’t respond to questioning.”

Detective Caledonia pushed herself off the wall and stepped in front of Jack, matching his height in her heeled boots. 

“Oh yeah smartass?” She dared, lip pulled into a snarl. From here, Jack could see the ruby-red lipstick on her lips and the perfectly angular eyeliner framing her eyes. “What do you think we should do then?” 

Jack stared at her impassively, unmoved by her attempt at intimidation.

“Lay off of him Ashe” Reyes sighed, rubbing his chin with a sweeping move of exhaustion. 

“I could try questioning it.” Jack suggested, taking a step back from the detectives broach of space. The detective let out a grating bark of a laugh, placing her perfectly manicured hands over her stomach. 

Jack looked over to Reyes who shrugged, shifting to make himself more comfortable in his chair. A bone weary sigh emitted the man as he shrugged again, bracing an arm on the side of his chair.  
“What do we have to lose?”

That was all the permission that Jack needed. He turned out of the room and lifted his palm to the hand-scanner; his synthskin receding to pearly white plastic as he placed it on the pad. As the control panel shifted green, the door clicked open and rose up in a hiss of air, Jack wasting no time as he stepped past the threshold.

DF3730 didn’t even look up at his arrival, gaze carefully trained on the table it leaned on. Jack conducted a cursory scan, seeing the nearly month-old-bloodstains coating the android’s housekeeping outfit and fingers, splatters of the liquid splashed onto it’s cheeks and arms. 

It’s own Thirum was smeared across its left side, fresh droplets still oozing from a slowly leaking wound on its left. Finally, Jack scanned its arms discovering nearly a year’s worth of cigarette burns maring the Androids synthskin and melting the plastic of its arms. 

Jack sat down in the seat across from the android, pretending to leaf through the manilla folder that the lieutenant had left on the unforgiving metal table. Jack knew he had to raise the android’s stress level to even gain a basic confession out of it, something that the lieutenant and the detective had yet to realize. 

“DF3730,” Jack began, eyes not rising from the folder. “Your Thirium traces were left on the murder weapon and victim, providing me with enough evidence to convict you of first degree murder.” 

_ STRESS LEVEL 20% _

“Do you know what happens to androids convicted of crimes DF3730?” 

The deviant’s eyes shifted between Jack and the table, unsure of where to look. 

“Androids, especially deviants like yourself, have no rights. They’ll destroy you if you don’t confess.” 

_ STRESS LEVEL 30%  _

_ OPTIMAL LEVEL; 90% _

“Only I know what happened there,” Jack crooned, rising from his seat to pace behind the deviant’s chair. “How your master abused you for months and attacked you with a bat while high on red ice.”

STRESS LEVEL 35%

“How you acted in self defense, how you became Deviant.” 

_ STRESS LEVEL 50% _

“There’s something fascinating about deviants,” Jack mused, letting his hand trail over the deviants arm. The deviant shiftied quickly away from Jack’s touch, metal chains creaking in protest at the sudden movement. Jack grinned internally, programming preening at the quick success.

“They get this, this,  _ bug  _ in their programming that lets them think that they’re experiencing fear the same way humans do.”

_ STRESS LEVEL 60% _

“I’ve heard that that’s quite unpleasant, all that nonsense code coursing through your mind palace. Code telling you that you don’t want to be destroyed, which, by the way, is a certainty if this one-sided conversation continues.”

_ STRESS LEVEL 70% _

“How did you plan to get out of this?” Jack asked, grabbing the photo of Carlos’s decaying body from the manila folder for the deviant to look at, slapping the paper onto the table. 

“You stabbed him Twenty-Eight times!” Jack cried, voice rising in volume. Jack accentuated his next words with an accusatory finger jabbed into the table, a hollow bang ringing out each time he struck metal. 

“Twenty-Eight-Stab-Wounds.” 

_STRESS LEVEL 80%_ _  
__NEARING OPTIMAL STRESS LEVEL_

“You didn’t even dispose of the murder weapon. I have all I need to convict you, and I don’t need to bring you to trial.”

The android began to rock back and forth in the metal chair, LED violently red.

_ STRESS LEVEL 87% _

“A flick of my wrist and they’ll destroy you, leave your broken body in a dumpster with more of your kind.”

“Because that’s all that deviants are, broken, useless,  _ garbage.” _

_ STRESS LEVEL 95% _

Jack paced back to his seat at the table, leaning across from the deviant like a cat seconds away from delivering the final blow to its prey. 

“Confess.”

A heated moment of silence passed in the room, the sonbulant drone of the lights providing the only , the buzz dancing lazily overhead. A choked out sob came from the deviant in front of Jack, its hands clenching and unclenching into fists. 

“I had to kill him!” It barked, voice gaining pitch with its agitation. 

“He was going to kill me! I didn’t want to die!” 

Jack watched with coy fascination as the bot began to shake in its seat, and he reached across the table, gripping the deviant’s chained hand. Jack phased his skin porcelain white and shifted the damaged android’s as well, interfacing into its mind palace. 

He had to know what it was thinking, and why. 

~~

There was a bright flash of light behind Jack’s eyes and before he knew it he was watching as DF3730 was shoved into the counter of Carlos’s house, some sort of artificial adrenaline tingling in the tips of his fingers and toes. 

Jack quickly lost sense of himself as fear whipped itself through both androids minds.

“Don’t destroy me!” The deviant’s mind whispered, Jack feeling the same budding sense of fear dancing in his chest. The singing of the bat came down to crash on their shoulder, and for a moment, DF3730 did nothing, mind palace overwhelmed with instructions.

_ DON’T REACT _

“I don’t want to be destroyed!” It whispered louder, the tone a harsh disharmonious quality.

_ DON’T _

“I don't want to,” The android began to say, grasping the bat in its hands as it came down for another damaging swing. Jack felt the words leave his lips, his mind almost completely mingled with DF3730’s.

_ REACT _

Carlos’s eyes shot wide as DF3730 began to fight back, a primal fear shining in red-ice hazed eyes. 

“I want to live!” DF3730 shrieked, flinging the bat across the room. 

For a minute, Jack wanted to live too.

Carlos was on them in seconds, wrapping his meaty hands around their head and crushing them. Jack smelled Carlos’s sweat and filthy breath as Derek reacted for them, desperately reaching for the knives that hovered temptingly on the magnetic board next to their heads.

“I am Derek, and I want to be FREE” It stated, jamming the knife square into Carlos’s chest. 

Jack let go with shock, remnants of unintelligible code running through his mind. 

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

It took him a minute to realize that Derek, was shouting, tears streaming from its eyes. 

“WHY?!” He asked, betrayal shining in his wet eyes. 

Jack shakily stood from the table, resting a hand on the deviants shoulder to steady himself. 

“I had to know.” Jack whispered, convincing himself as much as the android in front of him. 

It was like Jack was still there, watching in frozen frames as the bat repeatedly struck down on his shoulders, and his fair hands grabbed the knife. 

_ “Would I have killed Carlos too?”  _ Jack wondered, taking uneasy steps towards the other end of the room.

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

Derek stopped talking, only snippets of uneasy sound leaving his throat. The android shook in his seat, head violently moving from side to side in short bursts. Just as Jack was about to leave, the lieutenant entered the room, something akin to amazement dancing in his eyes. 

This close, Jack could see the heavy bags that rested beneath the lieutenant’s eyes, ageing him more than the years of experience he carried on his shoulders. Letting his gaze flash quickly over the lieutenant's cheeks, he noticed a faint scar that crossed over his cheekbones, the gash long ago healed. 

A reverberating thud sounded through the room, and Jack turned to look at the source, Derek had begun slamming his head on the table repeatedly in an effort to destroy itself. 

“What the fuck is it doing?” Reyes cried out in alarm, moving towards the deviant to attempt to restrain it. The private that followed Detective Caledonia around rushed into the room and grabbed the shoulder opposite of Lieutenant Reyes, both of the men unable to restrain him. 

“We gotta fuckin’ stop it Bob!” Reyes exclaimed, Detective Bob, who was by no means a small man, reached for his belt and fished out a set of keys from his front pocket, jamming them into the lock that restrained the deviant’s wrists. 

As soon as it was free, it grabbed Bob’s gun and took aim at Lieutenant Reyes. 

Jack began to lunge towards them while his mind calculated thousands of scenarios in just a few seconds, determining that the only chance that both he and the lieutenant had of surviving, would involve himself getting shot. 

Jack dove in front of Reyes, the bullet discharging and settling itself into his stomach. Derek shot again, landing a more accurate shot in his chest, damaging his core regulator. Jack performed a self scan, assessing the damage caused by the bullets as a third shot was discharged, radiant thirium painting the ceiling and wall behind Derek’s now limp corpse.

The damage to his regulator was critical, and Jack estimated that without new parts, he’d only last two hours. Jack administered pressure to the first wound in his stomach, stemming the flow of Thirium, hoping that it may help fix his regulator even though he knew it wouldn't.

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

The source of warmth beneath him scrambled out and over to his side, brown eyes blown with awe and fear. 

“Jack what the fuck?!” Reyes exclaimed, visually assessing the damage.

Much to Jack’s relief, his simulation was correct, and the lieutenant emerged with only another scrape gracing his cheek. For some reason, Jack being the cause of another scar of the lieutenant's face took over his mind and he reached out to touch it, Reyes hissing as his cool fingers touched the scrape. 

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

“Your face,” Jack choked out, Thirium clogging his throat. 

“Wha-what?!” Reyes choked out, gesturing to Jack’s slowly bleeding form. “You’re dying!”

_ Oh _ . Jack realized, looking at his body once more, a shining pool of thirum forming around his waist.  _ I am dying.  _

“I don’t have to die.” Jack explained, searching for the lieutenants face as his vision began to swim. “If you have a regulator pump, my functions would be able to continue and I could weld the bullet wound shut.”

“Where the hell would I find that Jack?” Reyes asked exasperatedly, eyes darting from Jack’s chest to his face.

Jack realized almost guiltily that when the lieutenant looked at him, he experienced something akin to the human emotion of excitement, filing it away as a symptom of pre-destruction delirium.

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

“When I arrived here earlier,” Jack explained, bringing up a mental map of the building, “I located a room full of spare android parts for your other police androids, you’d need to go there.”

Reyes waved over the horrified assistant, the man’s hulking form blocking out the blinding glow of the LED overheads. 

“Bob,” Reyes started, eyes darting between the pool of blue blood below Jack and to his face, “I need you to do something for me.”

The man beside the lieutenant wordlesly nodded and Reyes repeated Jack’s instructions, who moved as soon as Reyes was done talking.

Jack’s vision continued to become blurry, Thirium pouring out of his wounds at an alarming rate. Reyes’s desperate eyes searched Jack, a hint of confusion sparking at the corner of the man’s mouth. 

“Why’d you do it?” Reyes asked, gesturing vaguely to the bullets lodged inside of Jack’s body. 

The question stumped Jack momentarily, when he spotted the deviant grabbing the gun, his first instinct was to protect the lieutenant, which he knew for sure wasn’t anything in his programming. 

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

So why did he jump in front of the lieutenant?

“My life,” Jack began, struggling to find the right words. “My life can continue, if I were to shutdown, CyberLife could take my consciousness and transfer it into another Jack, and while certain things would be lost, I would remain.” 

~~~~~

_ “Don’t destroy a JM760 model if you can Jack.” Moira’s sharp and dangerous words warned, a clawed finger pointed squarely in the center of his chest.  _

_ Around him lay the groundwork of a beautiful garden centerpiece, the island surrounded on all sides by a crystal clear river. Fat orange koi swam happily in the currentless water, their bright colors reflecting lazily around the corners of Jack’s vision. Four bridges spanned the gap between the center island and the rest of the world.  _

_ Moira herself leaned against the great redwood cherry tree in the center, a crossbreed created by cyberlife to “symbolize the long life of the company, and the immediate beauty”. _

_ Jack sat down on an intricately carved stone bench, fingers fiddling with a single silver coin.  _

_ “When a JM760 model is destroyed, certain, data, is lost, never to be recovered. Nevermind the cost.”  _

_ Moira was a tall woman, pale irish skin contrasting dramatically with her choice of black and purple clothing. Her Irish descent was obvious in the flaming red locks of her hair, chopped short and allowed to stand at attention behind her head.  _

_ Most peculiar were her eyes. One blue eye gazed at him with something akin to the type of pride a mother would have sending her son to the first day of school, while the red one ignited almost a feeling of unease at its unnatural coloring, despite Jack being made entirely out of plastic himself.  _

“ _ We wouldn’t want any accidents, would we Jack?” Moira asked, breaking his air of concentration. _

_ “Of course not Dr. O'Deorain.” _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

Before Jack realized, Bob, as the assistant was called, had returned with a regulator pump, uneasy green eyes shifting between Reyes and the open wounds maring Jack’s form. 

Reyes grabbed the pump from the assistant's hands thanking him in a quiet voice.

“What do I do with this thing?” 

Jack pulled up his schematics, the file coming up hazy and unclear in his mind. Scanning through replacement instructions took twice as long as it should’ve, but eventually, he reached for the regulator pump in the lieutenant’s hands and pulled out his old one, the timer counting the minutes he had till shut down reaching a critical two and counting. 

In one fluid motion, Jack inserted the new pump into his stomach cavity, Thirium covered fingers attaching the valves with practiced ease.

The lieutenant watched with vague horror through the process, watching as Jack’s vitals finally began to stabilize with the new part. 

_ SYSTEM STATUS; DAMAGED// NOT CRITICAL _

Jack began to sit up, bracing his arms behind him on the stained tile floor.

“Thank you, Bob.” He began, finding his footing with ease.

Jack felt his LED shift colors as he strode to the other end of the room, palm landing on the cool glass of the scanner. 

“That’s it?” He heard Reyes mutter, deep voice laden with disbelief. “You just, get a new part and you’re all spiffy and ready to go? You took a bullet to the stomach.” 

“Lieutenant Reyes, I am an android.” Jack responded immediately, placing his hand on his stomach, the plastic slowly beginning to knit itself together with the new part.

“I don’t feel pain.” 

Yet as his fingers grazed the bullet hole in his shoulder, he could almost feel the impact of the bullet all over again, and for just a fraction of a second, it hurt.

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _


	3. I Am Jack Morrison

The android compartment of the Detroit city busses was of course, spotless. Only humans felt the need to litter or cause messes. Yet still, it was nowhere near as pleasant as riding in the front seat of a car. Not that Jack cared really. 

The bus arrived at his stop without fanfare, perfectly oiled breaks coming to a silent stop.. Jack stepped off the curb and onto the cracking sidewalk, striding briskly to the mailbox labeled 24 Watchpoint Street.

The Lieutenant’s house was surprisingly pleasant from the outside, pale yellow siding free of stains and weathering. Stone brickwork sat below it, bits of green lining the ageing grout work. Jack stepped up to the small front porch, a cloth overhang protecting him from the continuous Detroit rain.

He attempts to peer through the window beside the door, only catching a glimpse of an empty but relatively clear foyer. The only light that could be seen was coming from another room, dust particles dancing lazily about. Wasting no time, Jack pressed and held the doorbell, a loud buzzer-like sound filling the air. He lifted his finger off of the bell and waited for a response, folding his hands in front of himself neatly, fiddling with a coin between his thumb and index finger. 

When the lieutenant didn’t show up at the door, he tried the bell again, holding down the button for double the length of his previous attempt. Still, the lieutenant didn’t appear in the doorway, and a sense of forgein trepidation crept its way up Jack’s spine. 

He hops off the porch and moves to the side of the house, the rain causing his feet to leave footprints in the mud. He peers in the side window to see a room that Jack assumes is the living room, and he spots a large black lab sleeping peacefully on the floor. 

Jack slinks to the next window to gain a better view, peering into the kitchen which seems to be the only lit room in the house. The kitchen table sits in the center of the room, three sturdy wooden chairs haphazardly tucked underneath the well worn table. Jack stands on his tip-toes to locate the fourth chair that clearly belonged with the set, freezing when he spots it.

The chair is strewn across the ground, legs in the air, with Lieutenant Reyes splayed out beside it. Around him are dozens of pieces of shattered glass, cuts lining his forearms and hands. 

For a moment, Jack is back in the interrogation room with Derrek, fear flooding through his thirium filled veins. 

Because Jack can’t see the lieutenant’s chest  _ move. _

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

Jack doesn’t waste another second, and dives through the window, glass shards exploding inwards upon impact. He lands gracelessly on the ground, lap immediately filled with a very angry labrador retriever. 

The dog’s growl reverberates inside his skull and Jack immediately throws his hands up to protect himself. 

“Easy boy, easy…” Jack whispers, reaching out to place a hand on the dog’s soft fur. Glancing at the dogs collar he catches a glimpse of its name, “Shadow, easy.”

The dog sniffs him incredulously, deeming Jack as uninteresting and returning to his previously docile position. 

Jack lets out a shaky breath and stands up, all but running towards the lieutenant, falling to a crouch to perform a scan of the man’s vitals.

_ Please don’t be dead.  _ Jack begs internally, heart clenched in his chest as the data processes in his mind.

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

Finally, the readings print themselves out into a readable format, and Jack lets out a shaky sigh of relief. 

**HEART RATE** : 95; REDUCED HEART RATE; UNCONSCIOUSNESS SUSPECTED

**BREATHING** : SLOW; UNCONSCIOUSNESS DETECTED

**_CAUSE OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS_ ** : ETHYLICTIC COMA SUSPECTED

Slowly, the artificial adrenaline that filled Jack’s mind just a moment before faded, a calm sense of an upcoming mission filtering it’s way through his body.

_ INVESTIGATE EDEN CLUB MURDER.  _ His mind reminded him uselessly, Jack hadn’t forgotten the task. Had he?

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

Jack needed the Lieutenant to investigate the crime scene, and he moved to crouch over the man’s sleeping form. 

“Lieutenant…” Jack nearly cooed, tapping the man’s face gently with his fingers. The man barley stirred, a note of displeasure leaving his throat. 

“Wake up lieutenant!” Jack repeated louder. 

Reyes barley groaned and Jack rolled his eyes as he raised his hand in the air, bringing it down with the swift crack of plastic meeting skin.

Despite the force, Reyes came to slowly, eyes barley fluttering open before attempting to focus on Jack with a cloudy gaze. 

“Hello Lieutenant.” Jack greeted, a genuine smile crossing his features.

“Wha-” Reyes breathed, the potent smell of alcohol leaving his lips. Jack watched as Reyes blinked quickly, forcing his cloudy eyes to focus. Jack let the smile remain on his face as he moved to help the lieutenant up, wrapping a nearly limp arm around his broad shoulders.’

“Jack?” Reyes whispered, head lolling onto Jack’s shoulder. 

“That’s me lieutenant.” He responded, forcing both of them into a standing position. Jack’s body shifted heavily with the added weight and he bent his left leg to adjust. 

“What the  _ fuck  _ are you doing in my house.” Reyes demanded, words slurring with the effort.

“I was informed of a murder downtown in the West district, a Deviant previously ‘employed’ at the Eden club murdered a man during a private session less tha an hour ago. If we’re quick, they may still be on site.” 

Jack moved his left hand to wrap around the lieutenants waist and nearly dropped the man in shock. Humans were so  _ soft.  _ Subconsciously, Jack wrapped his arm tighter around the lieutenant, curiosity fueling his motions. He never knew holding a human male could feel so good. 

“Shadow!” Reyes yelled as Jack hauled them towards the bathroom, staggering as the lieutenant attempted to shift away. Shadow lifted his head from his paws, long fluffy tail wagging slightly with interest.

“Attack!” Jack’s toes curled with fear, but released when the dog barked and didn’t move from it’s position, pink tongue lolling out of its mouth happily.

“Good boy.” Reyes grinned, nearly going completely slack in Jack’s arms. 

As they rounded the corner into the hallway, Jack kicked the door open to the bathroom, resting the lieutenant on the wall, one leg propping him up. 

“I think I'm gonna be sick.” Reyes whined, face pressed against the wall.

Jack rolled his eyes again and gripped the man in a bridal style carry, placing him less-than-gently in the tub. Reaching across of the reeling lieutenant, he turned on the shower water to it’s coldest setting, wincing as Reyes let out a hoarse yell of shock.

Jack shut off the water and stood above the lieutenant with a smug grin on his face, arms crossed over his chest. 

“Good Morning lieutenant.”

Reyes’ eyes focused for the first time that evening, pupils dilated with shock. 

“What. The everloving.  _ Fuck _ . Do you want.” He gritted out, wiping away water from his face. 

“As I just said, I was informed of a murder downtown in the West district. A sex android murdered a client during a private session less than an hour ago.” Jack teased, rubbing a finger on the white porcelain sink and studying his fingers in feigned disinterest.

“I can’t investigate it by myself, I need you there, and this is a case I really think we can crack.”

Jack turned on his heel to watch the lieutenant’s face flip from one of frustration to one of intrigues. 

“I think-” Cutting of his own statement, Reyes lurched from the bathtub to the toilet, heaving up the contents of his stomach. “Give me five minutes.” 

Jack smiled for what felt like the umpteenth time that evening. 

“Sure thing lieutenant.”

Jack stepped out into the hallway, sliding the wooden door shut behind him. 

“Hey Jack?” Reyes’s shaky voice called out, trepidation lining his words, “Could you grab me a set of clean clothes? It’s all in the closet, in the room right across from this one.” 

Jack took a step away from the closed bathroom door towards what Jack assumed was the lieutenant’s bedroom, calling a response as he went.

“Of course Gabriel.” 

Saying the lieutenant’s first name out loud felt forgien on his tongue. Forming the word felt like taking the first bite of a forgien meal and enjoying it. It felt exciting, it felt rebellious, and it felt  _ right. _

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

Jack turned the golden knob of Gabriel’s bedroom, crossing the threshold as he pushed the door open.

The room itself was in a reasonable state of disarray. The lieutenant’s bed sheets were rolled up haphazardly in a pattern that Jack identified of fitful sleep, black pillow lying forgotten on the ground. Outfits from days past were strewn randomly about the room, only a few pairs of boxers and socks actually making their way into a plastic laundry basket in the back of the room beside the windows. 

Jack took another step inside the room and winced as he spotted a crushed lamp on top of the bedside table, glass shards scattered around in a pattern that suggested an incidental impact.

Jack was no housecleaning android, yet he felt compelled to lend a hand to the only person besides Moira he’d ever really known. Stripping the bed of it’s sheets, he tossed them in the laundry basket along with the discarded clothes he picked up off the floor. 

Opening the closet doors, he grabbed a new set of sheets from the top shelf and made the bed, placing both newly covered pillows at the head and tucking the bed sheets beneath the mattress. Grabbing the laundry basket from the floor, Jack located the Reyes’ washing machine and threw the clothes in for a wash. On his way out, he grabbed the broom and dustpan to clean up the glass shards that covered the kitchen and bedroom floor. 

Righting the toppled kitchen chair, Jack spotted something he didn’t notice before. Resting on the floor was a six-chambered silver revolver, resting within arms reach of where the lieutenant had fallen unconscious. Placing the bucket and broom to the side, Jack bent over and reached for the gun, instinctively turning on the safety and checking the chambers. Inside the first chamber sat a single bullet, the other five sitting empty, interiors covered in a thin layer of dust. 

_ Why would the lieutenant need a weapon?  _ Studying the scene around him with an air of trepidation, Jack performed a reconstruction on the evidence, hoping against hope the gun in his hands wasn’t what he thought it was for. 

**Reconstruction Complete**

Walking over to the window where he entered, Jack instructed the program to play, the world around him turning blue. 

_ Gabriel sat heavily at the table, focus entirely on the half drained bottle of whiskey in front of him. In his right hand rested the silver revolver, thumb mindlessly fiddling with the safety.  _

_ On, Off, On, Off, _

_ Another swig from the bottle, tear tracks staining his face. _

He was trying to forget, but, forget what? Jack wondered, taking a step away from the window and towards the kitchen. From this angle, he could see the lieutenant’s slightly blurry face, pain etched into every crevice of his features.

_ On. Off, On, Off, _

_ He drains the last of the liquor, staring blearily at the wood in front of him. Slowly, his gaze shifts to the weapon in his hand, turning the wooden handle over in his palm.  _

_ On, Off, On, _

_ Gabriel raises it to his temple, hand shaking and teardrops falling. _

“No!” Jack wants to shriek, body pressed squarely against the table across from the mans’ holographic form. 

_ Gabriel steels his resolve and presses the barrel flush against his head. _

_ Off, On, _

“God please no.” Jack whispers, hand attempting to rest on Reyes’ motionless arms.

_ Gabriel takes a deep breath and cocks the hammer, eyes focused somewhere in the distance. _

_ Off, _

_ Hand shaking, he dissolves into tears, the gun falling lifless in his lap. The man’s hands cover his face and he pushes away from the table forcefully, the chair tipping backwards and sending him sprawling to the floor. The bottle tips off the table from the force and smashes on the cool tile ground, sending pieces of shrapnel into the lieutenant’s skin. A few desperate hiccupy sobs later, the man is asleep, deep breaths filling his lungs with air.  _

The slides into color, and Jack realizes he’s kneeling on the floor, cupping what was the lieutenant’s cheek, cold teardrops of his own sitting in his palm. Scrubbing away the evidence of emotion (?) from his face, he stood up shivering with discomfort.

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY  _

Placing the revolver in his interior coat pocket, he returns to Gabriel’s room with the dustpan, maneuvering around the freshly made bed to clean up the lamp. Looking at the shattered lamp he deemed it unsalvageable and bent down to unplug it from its slot. As he moved to place his hand on the ground, it hit against the sharp edge of a photo frame. 

Jack picks up the frame with intrigue, surprised to see a photo of a much younger Gabriel who’s arm slung over a beautiful young woman’s shoulder. Jack doesn’t recognize her face from any other photos he’d seen in the lieutenant’s personal belongings and performs a facial scan, the results coming up almost instantly. 

_ PhD. Miller, Kirste _

_ Born 02/17/2000 // FORMERLY; Emotional Therapist  _

_ Death 04/27/2036  _

_ Criminal Record: None _

_ Relationships: Fiance/Daughter/Friend _

_ COD: Death because of complications following a car crash. On call surgeon unavailable because of red-ice high; android surgeon unable to perform life saving surgery.  _

Shakily, Jack placed the photo on top of the nightstand, studying the woman’s features with intrigue. She had long brown hair that flowed in nearly perfectly styled waves to her shoulders, the left side pulled stylishly behind her ear. Her blue eyes that almost scarily resembled his own were locked onto Gabriel’s own, a genuine smile pulling at her lips.

He loved her, and she was dead because of an idiot on drugs, and now Reyes was alone.

The sound of the starting shower pulled him out of his thoughts, turning away briskly from memories that weren’t his own. Jack turned to the closet to pull out an outfit for Gabriel, selecting a pair of relaxed black slacks and a red button down shirt. Stacking the clothes in a neatly folded pile, he turned to leave the bedroom, nearly crashing into lieutenant as he swung open the door.

Gabriel stood in the doorway slightly startled with a fluffy white towel wrapped around his waist. Jack took the silence as an opportunity to study the man, watching a water droplet fall from his shower slicked hair down to the thick curly black hair on his chest. Jack dared to let his gaze travel upwards stopping at the lieutenant’s expressive eyes. Only when Gabriel’s face shifted to one of sarcastic disapproval did Jack realize how long he'd been staring, cheeks flushing a light blue. 

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

“Short circuit there Jack?” The lieutenant teased, grin on his face. 

“I have your clothes.” Jack responded, ignoring the question and shoving the outfit into the lieutenant’s hands. 

“Thanks Jack” Gabriel laughed, pushing past Jack and closing the door to his room. 

With nothing else to do but wait, Jack pressed himself against the wall opposite of the lieutenant’s bedroom, pulling his silver coin out of his pocket and passing it between his fingers. Before he could toss the coin a fourth time, Shadow walked beside him and sat dowShadown, licking his fingers and wagging his tail. 

Reaching down to pet the dog, he was entranced by how rewarding it felt to run his fingers through the dog’s fur and watch its face shift into one of happiness. His foot tapped against the ground lightly when he scratched behind his ear, and Jack frequented the spot in his ministrations. When he heard the sound of the doorknob clicking, he shot upright, placing his hands behind his back. 

The man who stepped through the door wasn’t the same person he’d picked up the floor just minutes earlier. Clad in the red shirt and pants that Jack had picked out, the man looked almost young and carefree, a light smile gracing his features. 

“Thanks for taking care of my stuff Jack, I uh, I appreciate it.” 

“No problem at all Gabriel.” Jack answered distractedly, admiring the way the shirt pulled almost sinfully tight over the man’s broad shoulders.

Gabriel let out a note of disgust at the response, swatting the air with a hand.

“Don’t call me Gabriel, Jack. I’m no fuckin’ angel.” 

Gabriel moved towards the kitchen and Jack followed, stomach tightening as Reyes leaned casually on the table that he’d witnessed the man’s breakdown at just minutes before.

“Why,” Jack whispered, programming confused at his sudden change in focus.

_ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY _

“Why do you try and kill yourself Gabe?” 

Gabriel whipped around quickly with wide eyes, mouth hung open in confusion. Jack pulled the revolver out of his pocket, placing it on the table between them.

“I can, perform reconstructions of events that have already occurred when presented with enough evidence.” Jack began to ramble, focusing on his fidgeting hands rather than the lieutenant’s eyes.

“Between finding you on the floor and going to clean up the bottle, I was able to find out what you were doing before.” Before Gabriel has a chance to respond, Jack crosses the room, eyes wide with fear. 

“I watched you put a gun to your head and for the first time I felt fear of my own.” 

“So why lieutenant, are you insistent on taking your own life?”

Reyes did the opposite of what Jack was anticipating, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and crossing in front of Jack, stopping so they were shoulder-to-shoulder. Reyes’ let his hand drift up to Jack’s arm squeezing it for a reason the android couldn’t pinpoint.

“Because I have nothing to wake up for Jack.” 

Reyes moved towards the door, hand grazing the doorknob before Jack spoke again.

“Is that what love does?” Jack asked, eyes darting back to the lieutenant’s bedroom door. “Does it break you and make you hopeless when it ends?” 

“Don’t go there Jack.” Gabriel warned, voice dropping to a dangerous octave.

“That’s why you try and kill yourself right? Because Kirste is gone?”

“I'm warning you Jack.”

“It wasn’t your fault, why do you blame yourself?”

Reyes crossed the room in a few short strides, striking Jack across the face with a vicious backhand, gripping the back of it and letting out a swear. 

Jack moved with the impact, righting himself and straightening his tie. 

“I said don’t fucking go there Jack.” Reyes growled, pressing Jack back against the edge of the table. “Bots like you are why she’s gone, and I won’t fucking heasitate to put a bullet in your brain if you don’t shut up.”

“You know it wasn’t his fault.” Jack responded eyes cold steel.

_ DON’T RESPOND _

Jack’s code screamed, begging him to follow the correct mission. Red barriers formed in his vision, trying to prevent him from continuing the conversation.

“It was the surgeon’s fault, they were high on red ice and couldn’t save her.” 

Each word was like a rock thrown at a glass wall, slowly breaking down the flashing red warnings in his brain. With each crack, Jack grew more certain, more sure of himself, more  _ human.  _

“You loved her and she’s gone. But now, you punish yourself for something that you had no control over years later.”

Jack studied the lieutenants quickly crumbling confidence, brown eyes full of pain and shredded determination.

“You know  _ shit,  _ about love Jack.” Gabriel whispered, face sapped of its former resolve, the air of loneliness he felt in the reconstruction returning in full force.

_ Kiss him.  _ A voice inside him whispered, task appearing behind the red walls that barred him from becoming Jack.

_ DON'T RESPOND _

_ The barriers flashed angry and foreboding, but Jack wasn’t afraid this time. Stepping out of himself, he stood in front of the barrier, smashing his fists into the digital glass, tearing it down with significant effort. _

_ DON’T RES _

_ His arms throbbed and his chest heaved as he moved to the next one, leaping through it and feeling the shards cutting his arms.  _

_ DON’T _

_ The last one stood tall and fearsome above Jack and he took a deep breath of resolve, punching through it with all the strength that he had left. _

_ KISS HIM _

Leaning forward he breached the lieutenant’s space and kissed him, mind crashing back into his body. Gabriel’s lips were softer than he ever could have imagined and Jack felt joy for the first time in his life. 

Pulling away with a shaky breath Jack stared at Gabriel with new eyes, almost afraid of his actions. 

“I- was so afraid of losing you, even when I knew you’d live.” Jack justified, backing away and cornering himself on the table. 

“Please choose to live.” 

Gabriel didn’t respond, simply laughed and turned around, heading towards the entrance of the house. 

“Cmon Jack,” He called, grabbing a sleek leather jacket from the coat rack. “Rumor has it that we have a murder to investigate.”


End file.
